My Faith and My Work are Under Attack by My Own Government and Countrymen

As I mentioned in my last post, I am a project manager for a company that fabricates much of the subsea equipment shown in the video I posted. I've had the privilege of being the project manager in charge of fabricating some of the SCR's and flowlines for the worlds deepest gas platform. The technology involved in producing these components is truly amazing. It is beyond unfortunate that our president wants to destroy the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico by increasing taxes and removing incentives to drill and produce our domestic offshore resources. It seems plain to me that if you punish companies for producing these resources domestically, the following results will logically follow:

1) Our dependence on foreign oil will INCREASE. Oil companies will move their production efforts overseas to avoid being penalized by the US government. This is already happening. Production in West Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe is increasing while production in the US GoM is decreasing. Rigs are being stacked. Large installation vessels are moving to other fields as soon as this year. I am already seeing a sharp downturn in the drilling, exploration and production market.

2) Unemployment will rise dramatically along the Gulf Coast. Virtually everyone living within 100 miles of the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas is employed by an oil company or an oilfield service company. Even if they are not working in an oil and gas related industry, they inevitably provide goods and services to people who ARE. If this industry is hamstrung by president Obama's arbitrary penalties for providing energy to the nation, the unemployment rates in Michigan will pale in comparison to the devastation he will cause along the Southern Coast.

3) Energy prices will INCREASE. Any financial penalties imposed on oil companies by president Obama will simply be passed along to the consumer. The additional cost of transporting resources from foreign countries (who's governments allow offshore drilling) to the U.S. will also be passed along to the consumer.

4) Our national security will be compromised. If you think I'm blowing this out of proportion, step back and look at the war in Iraq. That war was fought (in part) over the free flow of oil to the U.S. We have ALREADY FOUGHT A WAR over this. President Obama's efforts to destroy domestic oil production will lead to greater dependence on foreign oil.

All of this in addition to his obvious and documented opposition to the Catholic Church's teaching on the sanctity of human life makes me feel as though my faith and now even my work have been targeted for destruction by our president and the majority of Americans who elected him. On top of this, our nations most well know, "Catholic" (I stretch the term so broadly you can see through it) college, Notre Dame University (gag), is honoring president Obama by having him speak at their graduation ceremonies. This in spite of the USCCB's very direct instructions NOT to do EXACTLY this sort of thing. I quote:

"The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions."

Our own institutions have lost their values. They are crumbling under the crushing weight of secularism. It is absolutely depressing to watch all of this happening at the same time.


These are dark days that call for intense prayer.

Great Deepwater Production Video

I found this great video on a website called EnergyTomorrow.org. I tried to embed it in my post but the code wasn't working for some reason.

As a project manager for a company that fabricates much of the subsea equipment shown in the video, I thought it was a great animation. We fabricate long sections of the lines that carry oil and gas from the sea floor to the platform at the surface. These lines are called steel catenary risers (SCR's). We also fabricate the flowlines which carry the oil and gas along the sea floor from the well head to the point at which the lines begin to curve upwards towards the surface (at this point they become SCR's). We've also recently started to fabricate some of the subsea structures seen along the sea floor in the video.

My Obama Album Cover

I'm not sure what Rage Against the Machine would think about my version of their album cover. I though it was appropriate given the fact that B. Hussein Obama's first order of business has been to expand state funded abortion and embryonic stem cell research in every way possible, to the maximum extent possible and as quickly as possible. I'm sure he'll get to that whole "crashing economy" thing in due time. First things first.

Obama Intent on Destroying Our Domestic Oil Industry

I recently received an e-mail from a friend of mine regarding the Obama administrations stated desire to tax the hell out of the oil industry to pay for alternative energy research and "porkulus" bailout money, etc. LOGA started an online petition to stop Obama's reckless crusade to destroy the domestic oil industry. You can read about it and sign the petition here. I would urge you to do so even if you don't work in the oilfield.

I happen to work in the oilfield manufacturing sector and I can tell you with a great deal of certainty that business has already fallen off the cliff. Obama's proposed taxes and dis-incentives to Gulf exploration will only intensify an already dire economic situation. Major oil companies can't get the credit they need to operate so everything is at a standstill. Meanwhile, Detroit gets billions in bailout money to keep auto makers in business. We had 651,000 jobs go down the tubes last month. Who the hell is going to buy these cars? We don't need more cars. We will always need fuel for the cars we already have. We also need to free ourselves from foreign oil by developing our resources in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama's proposed policies are the polar opposite of what is needed at this critical time.

Some oil companies and oilfield service companies are already laying off thousands of employees. I know one older gentleman who had to come out of retirement and return to work because (as he put it) his "401k turned into a 101k". For the first time in my life, I feel like my own government is doing everything in it's power to put me out of a job. I knew I would be deeply disappointed in Obama's policies but I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would be targeted for extermination. This is worse than I ever could have imagined and we're only 50 days into his 4 year term.

To summarize: Obama's intent is clearly to discourage domestic oil production by excessive taxation. This will in turn increase energy costs, increase unemployment, increase our dependence on foreign oil and further damage our already broken economy. It's like we're racing towards financial oblivion and our president's solution is to hit the nitrous and stand on the gas.

Thanks ObamaZombies. See you in the soup line.